Different Types of Credit Card Terminals

Credit card terminals are devices that do transactions with a credit card or debit card. These devices have become a very common sight in almost all retail stores and restaurants. They let credit card processing to be done in an effective and secured way.

Millions of terminals are being shipped each and every year. Although it is true that they are relatively a small purchase in terms of dollars, their impact on a business can be huge. Merchant account providers usually charge half percent more for keyed-in transaction than for swiped charges. Thus if you find your old credit card machine not reading cards as it used to earlier or is not able to support transactions with debit cards, purchase a terminal soon for smooth operation of your business. You might also need these machines because your business has grown substantially.

Whatever be the reason for your purchase of credit card terminals, there are different kinds of these machines available in the market from where you can make your choice.  Software-based or virtual terminals, wireless terminals and traditional terminals are the three different types of credit card machines. Here is a brief introduction of each of these machines.

Traditional terminals

Traditional credit card terminals include a keypad for entering the prices and any other kind of information for transaction, a magnetic stripe reader and a small display. The printer can either be available as a separate unit or be built-in. When you make your choice between a built-in printer and a machine with a separate unit, always remember that it is always easier to deal with a single device than two. When it comes to displays, buying the ones having larger displays is a wise idea because that would enable you to see more information. Getting a backlit display will let you use the machine in low light conditions and this is a good idea. Keypads generally vary in size.  Number of keys may also vary in a keypad. More the number of keys better is the functionality.

Software-based terminals

You might not need any physical credit card machine at all if you do your business exclusively over Internet or phone. In such a case, the merchant account provider generally provides software, which handles the monetary transaction. Here only the credit card number needs to be typed for the software to handle the authorization.

Wireless terminals